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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28264197">Villain Kid Rule #1</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym'>BookofOdym</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DCU, DCU (Comics), Infinity Inc. (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Can you tell which one is Hank and which one is Todd?, Community: dckinkmeme, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, Telepathic Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:40:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28264197</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: AU where Rose/Thorn keeps the twins and raises them herself. When they grow up they go looking for their father and try to join the JSA but are rejected like Hank for being villains kids. When they end up with Infinity Inc. the stigma of being villains kids follows them. Jade is able to shed the stigma thanks to her friendly, extraverted personality and having the same powers as her famous hero father. Todd, moody introvert with creepy shadow powers, is only barely tolerated by most of Infinity Inc, except for Hank who decides that villains kids should stick together and goes out his way to befriend Todd. Poor gay as fuck Todd doesn’t stand a chance and falls fast and hard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Henry King Jr./Todd Rice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Villain Kid Rule #1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Some aspects of Stargirl canon are being used since in comics canon Cameron and Henry only meet in adulthood, but that's also no fun so I do what I want. The Injustice Society's kids are childhood friends and Hank was constantly being dragged into trouble. Also in that for this Brainwave was around for a bit longer than in canon, he still gets arrested at some point though.<br/>Mostly comics based though.<br/>https://dckinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/1454.html?thread=2806446#cmt2806446<br/>For this prompt.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sometimes, Hank liked to people watch. It wasn’t always, and it wasn’t with everyone, and maybe it would have been better to say ‘sometimes, while they were at work, Hank’s eyes would slide over to Obsidian’ except that statement sounded worse, and there was no way that Todd would like it. He was lucky that so far, Obsidian had never caught him looking because that was sure to start a fight. Todd already thought that Hank was reading his mind, although that wasn’t true. Hank wouldn’t read his friends’ minds any more than he’d read their mail. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Infinity Inc. had only existed for a few short weeks, but Hank was already noticing that Todd was spending most of his time alone. Sure, he’d hang around with his sister, but when she would head off to go drinking with the other members of Infinity Inc. (like the college students they were), Todd would tend to head home alone. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t get along with Hector, you could hear their arguments from across the grounds, and at first, Hank had thought it had something to do with that. Syl might be in charge of the team, but most of them had been tied to Hector first, and Lyta seemed like the type who would back up her boyfriend. Not that it was really his business, Hank tended to spend his evenings helping Uncle Syl with office work instead of spending time with his teammates, so it wasn’t like he could judge. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It was only on a whim that he brought it up to Syl in the first place. He tried to make it sound like he had just noticed by accident and that he hadn’t been watching. “It looks like Todd is a bit of a loner,” he said while holding one of the man’s reports to make it look like it had just reminded him, “the others seem to avoid him.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh right,” his uncle said thoughtfully, “this was before you showed up. I forgot the wall was still intact. Jade and Obsidian arrived right after the others, claiming to be Green Lantern’s kids, and he was already suspicious, but then they mentioned their mother, and all hell broke loose.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. Huh? “I’ve never heard anything about GL having a superhero partner. Was this a civilian ex-wife or...?” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Worse,” Syl scratched his chin, “one of his villains. Thorn.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Hank had heard about her once. When he was a kid, Cameron and Artemis had coerced him into listening in on an Injustice Society meeting, and they had been talking about how she wouldn’t be fit for the team, so he’d always imagined her to be a slightly less competent villain than the Fiddler. ...Which probably wasn’t something he should ever mention to Jennie Lynn or Todd. Plus, he probably shouldn’t say it to Syl either. Admitting to being childhood friends with two of the villains they fought regularly might make his uncle stop trusting him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Did Al Pratt try to hit the twins with a chair?” Was what Hank said instead, remembering his own fight with every member of the JSA, which in hindsight was probably why they acted so strangely when around him.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, given that neither of them was stupid enough to PRETEND TO BE THEIR MOTHER, or tear a hole through the outside of the building. No. That’s just a you thing.” Syl paused. “The JSA did voice some distrust, based on who their mother is, as well as the fact that she might have passed down her mental illness.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <span>So</span>
  <span> Wonder Woman and Mister </span>
  <span>Hawkman</span>
  <span> probably... told their kids about that, so they’d keep an eye on them?” Al Pratt might not have unless it was in a ‘make sure your teammate isn’t about to hurt themselves’ kind of way. Al Pratt seemed like an okay sort of guy, other than the chair thing.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I swear you’re calling him Mister </span>
  <span>Hawkman</span>
  <span> to annoy me,” Syl pinched the bridge of his nose, “yeah, they did. I was going to tell you, but you were getting close enough to Jade that I thought she’d probably do it herself.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>A lot was falling into place, and Hank was developing a new theory. Among powersets, there were hero powers, and there were villain powers (and then there were also the neutral ones like telepathy, which was fine for Martian Manhunter, but if anyone knew that the son of Brainwave was developing it... he shuddered to think), and no matter how you looked at it, there was a clear difference between a cheerful woman with light powers and an angry man with shadow powers. Were the others distrustful of Todd because of that? </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Jade also obviously took after her father. Their powers were the same; although their personalities were very different, and everyone assumed she took after him morally speaking. Since her twin was the opposite... the assumption might be that he took after his mother.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He was developing a plan. Obsidian was on monitor duty tonight, and Hank thought he might appreciate some coffee and some company (probably more so the coffee), and he was going to give it to him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>After all. Villain kids had to stick together. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Todd didn’t have any problem with peace and quiet. In fact, he enjoyed monitor duty alone, so the fact that no one had volunteered to join him didn’t bother him in the slightest. It gave him the chance to be alone with his thoughts since it was unlikely that anyone would be reporting any emergencies at this hour anyway. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>A sound of clattering came from behind the door, followed by quiet swearing, and a moment later, a familiar redhead opened the door with his elbow, he had a brown stain on his collar, and some milky coffee dripped from his chin. “It’s okay,” Hank assured him, “I didn’t spill any of yours.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Amazingly, that hadn’t been Todd’s first worry, not that he had been particularly worried in the first place. “You didn’t burn yourself, did you?” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not badly, it probably cooled down a little when I was... crossing the road.” In opposition to his words, the skin of Hank’s neck was starting to turn pink, and Todd sighed, shoving a bunch of tissues at him. Hank could do that himself; he didn’t need Todd carefully patching up his wounds. Hank slid one of the cups onto the desk next to him, and unfortunately, slid himself into the other chair. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>For a man who could almost certainly read minds, he was astonishingly bad at taking a hint. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Hank hummed, and when Todd looked back at him, bright blue eyes were boring into him. Was he reading Todd’s thoughts right now? </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” He asked, incredibly defensively, which, as far as he was concerned, King deserved. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you eaten today?” The redhead asked. “Uncle Syl’s had me in since this morning, so...” as if to punctuate that statement, Hank’s stomach immediately started rumbling. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Todd blinked at him suspiciously, he hadn’t, but there was no way that King would know that without... “Stay out of my mind, King,” He snarled.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>That hadn’t been supposed to be an affirmative answer, but for some reason, Hank took it to be one anyway, because a moment later, he was ordering pizza.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Three days later, Todd was almost certain that King was trying to feed him up for some nefarious purpose or another. That was the only reason that he kept showing up, wanting to hang out with Todd, and generally with an offering of some kind of food or beverage. The fact that Todd regularly forgot to eat made it worse because he was unable to resist once it was laid out for him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It was weird, and the way Hank acted around Jennie-Lynn made Todd suspicious that he was trying to suck up to him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>There was only one course of action. He was going to give Hank a piece of his mind when he came to him today. Speak of the devil, a few moments later, he burst into the room. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You-” He started, pointing his finger at the telepath, only to be cut off in the other man’s excitement. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Syl wants us to head east, there’s been reports of some supervillain activity in New York.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Todd groaned. “New York? Can’t the Justice League take care of it.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh,” Hank said delicately, “I like them as much as the next guy; Booster and Beetle are pretty funny, and Captain Atom seems competent at least, but... no? Probably not?” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>The man made a point. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Plus, it’s the Gambler. That’s one of your old man’s villains.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“How?” Todd asked incredulously. He knew that Sonar existed and somehow made a career as an enemy of the second Green Lantern, but the second Green Lantern was about as smart as half a rock, and a man whose main super power was a gambling addiction shouldn’t have been able to fight Alan Scott. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Playing cards are made of wood? I don’t know, I just like to imagine him throwing them and them just passing through his forcefield,” Hank paused, “I mean... not like... it’s a funny image... I mean... anyway, it’s just us two, since Syl thinks sending a bunch of heavy hitters to take down the Gambler is a little bit overkill.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Just us two?” The way that Hank’s smile softened when he said that did odd things to his stomach. It was probably apprehension. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, we’ll be back by the end of the day. Jennie won’t even notice that you’re gone.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Five hours later, they were standing in the lobby of a small-town motel. They needed someone to come fetch them, but it was unlikely that anyone would be there before morning. “We’ll be back by the end of the day.” Todd said mockingly, his back turned towards the other man. “Jennie won’t even notice you’re gone.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Um,” the receptionist said nervously, glancing over at Todd, “I’m afraid we only have one room left.” </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Todd stared at the bed in the </span>
  <span>center</span>
  <span> of the room. Bed. Singular. Because that was precisely his luck, not only was he spending the night with his sister’s newest beau. Apparently, he was going to have to share a bed with him too. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m </span>
  <span>gonna</span>
  <span> go complain,” Todd said, already starting towards the door. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“No point. This is the last room they had. I’ll sleep on the floor if it’s that much of an issue.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Todd eyed some stains on the carpet. Thought about it for a moment and then sighed. “You can’t sleep on the floor; it looks like the last person who stayed here couldn’t find the bathroom.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Hank hummed. “I’ll make sure to stay on my side of the bed then.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Todd was about to voice his thanks when a rustling sound came from behind him. When he turned around, he saw that Hank was taking off his costume. His back was an expanse of lean muscle, his shoulder’s pink and lightly dusted with freckles, and he had a small scar on his side. Not that Todd was looking. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing?!” He practically yelped, and Hank blinked up at him, looking confused. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know about you, but my costume is pretty uncomfortable when I’ve been sweating. So, I was going to take a shower.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Sweating. Sweaty... No! Todd was not going to think about that. Those were bad thoughts. “What... were you planning to wear when you got out?” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh. Well. I’m wearing boxers underneath.” Hank said, thankfully stepping into the bathroom to remove the rest of his uniform. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Todd stood there, stock-still for a moment. No. He couldn’t deal with that. He couldn’t deal with Hank wearing almost nothing for the rest of the night. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, he remembered that there had been a charity shop on the other side of the street, so by the time Hank stepped out of the bathroom, dripping wet and wearing the tiniest of towels, Todd had a brown paper bag filled with clothes to shove at him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“You get dressed. If you’re still naked by the time I get out of the shower, we’re going to have a problem.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed like a good plan at the time, but he hadn’t accounted for how cute Hank could look in a black polo neck and jeans. As Todd took in the sight of the other man lounging face down on the bed, he had just one thought. He was going to murder his past self. Maybe Booster Gold would lend him his time machine. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“This’ll be fun,” Hank said, apparently oblivious to Todd’s internal thoughts, even though Todd was certain that he liked to peek... maybe he was, but pretending not to so he could blackmail Todd later. “It’ll be like my camping trips with my old friends, except this time no one will freeze the shower when anyone else is in there.” </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It sounded like there was a story in that, but Hank completely failed to elaborate. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He was keeping secrets. Todd knew it.</span>
  
</p>
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